Rozłam pomi´dzy „totalitaryzmem” a „demokracjà” Czechosłowacki rok 1989 – mozliwoÊci
The Turning-point between ‘Totalitarianism’ and ‘Democracy’: Hypothetical Outcomes to Events in Czechoslovakia in 1989

Summary/Abstract: The consideration of hypothetical alternatives to historical development in clearly established general conditions are, the author believes, a natural part of historical thinking. In this article he looks at the ‘Velvet Revolution’, that short period from the collapse of the Communist régime to the pushing through of a democracy in Czechoslovakia in November and December 1989, which for him becomes the space for such hypothetical reflections. In the historical records he seeks the key junctures in developments, and tries to outline the directions or paths that the political actors and members of the public could have set out on, but did not. In each case he starts from the assumption that one important factor of the previous events has changed.

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